[trichrider]

It may be of some interest to those of us who believe that decriminalization and legalization is the answer to the problem with the war on drugs.

It should concern every taxpayer in the US, since each of us are funding this ridiculous war on ourselves.

But my observation is that it’s saying WE are the problem. The users of the ‘Drug’ marijuana. Whether we choose to consider it medicinal, or believe we have the right to use it recreationally, we still are fueling the engine that drives the Drug War. We are demand.

We are the red headed stepchildren of a failed American policy.

Hiding behind the rights that have become the pivotal focus of the medical marijuana issue, our pathetic attempts at quasi-legalization offers drug gangs the best of both worlds by eliminating the risk to users, thereby increasing demand, but does not eliminate the risk to producers, effectively inflating prices based on that risk.

How much longer are we to support a policy, be it from this administration or the last, that imprisons sick people, allows business’ like privatized prisons to lobby on their own behalf, while imprisoning the very result of their efforts?

Is it any wonder then that tens of thousands of illegal aliens flood the US in search of something like the life we lead? We are the reason.
The Latin American countries, willing to cry Uncle, see that the market will not dissipate and that suppression efforts just do not work. They see that decriminalization is the only way to eliminate the huge income of drug gangs by removing it from contraband status. They intend to do just that.

The two governments communicate, so we know they know what they each intend to do. Will the US government stand down and let the several Latin American countries try to ease the suffering of literally millions. Will it soon be complaisant or continue blindly devastating the lives of millions of it’s own citizens as well as millions of others across our borders?

Tough questions need quick, decisive answers to alleviate the perception of carelessness. It appears that the answers will be a long time coming.

The massacre in Ciudad Juarez at the end of January made it clear that Mexico is losing the war on drugs. Narcotics-related violence is on the rise in other Latin American cities as well. An increasing number of voices are demanding that drugs be decriminalized.

The killers arrived in four or five SUVs. They quickly blocked off the road to Salvárcar, a working-class neighborhood of Ciudad Juarez, where 60 students were attending a birthday party.

The intruders, armed with automatic weapons, opened fire on the revelers. Sixteen people died in the hail of bullets two weekends ago. Most of them were adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19, and many were athletes, members of a local baseball team. One of them, José Adrián Encina, had only recently been named the best student in his class.

It was the bloodiest weekend of the year to date in the notorious Mexican border city: Forty-three people died a violent death. According to the government, the massacre was related to feuds within the drug trade, but the families of the victims say that most were innocent students.

Other Mexican cities have also been rocked by violence in recent days. Seven bodies were found in the southwestern city of Iguala. The victims suffocated when the murderers wrapped their mouths and noses in strapping tape. In Quiroga in southwestern Mexico, the police chief and two officers were shot, while several plastic bags containing body parts were found in nearby Zitácuaro.

Seven Murders a Day

Mexico's drug war is becoming more and more brutal. President Felipe Calderón has deployed 45,000 soldiers and federal police in the government's fight against the drug mafia, and 5,000 of them patrol the streets of Ciudad Juarez alone.

Despite the government's stepped-up efforts, the death toll continues to rise. Before Calderón came into office in December 2006, an average of two people a day died a violent death in the border city. By 2008, the daily death toll had risen to five, and last year the murder rate in Ciudad Juarez was up to seven people a day. Since 2007, more than 15,000 people have died in Mexico's drug wars.

Meanwhile, the drug business is booming. In 2009, Mexico became the world's second-largest marijuana producer, with poor, small farmers switching from corn and beans to cannabis. Frustrated government officials are convinced that they have already lost the drug war.

It is a defeat that affects all of Latin America, where the drug mafia is gaining ground from Tierra del Fuego to the Rio Grande. In the former Colombian cocaine capital Medellín, which was considered "pacified" seven years ago after a bloody military campaign, the murder rate was up again last year, to more than 1,800 people. According to the government, most were victims of drug wars between what it calls "mini-cartels." The Shining Path terrorist organization is making a comeback in neighboring Peru, now that it has marched into the cocaine trade.

Read the full story by clicking here.

[mean mr.mustard]

Speak for yourself buddy!

I don't buy any drugs from anybody.


I bet the US policies are what is truly sparking the violence... we pressed Mexico like we did most Latin American countries during the coke rush in the 80's...

So if it's tax money that is causing the demand, I'm guilty.... otherwise don't point at me.

[SeniorBuzz]

US arrests 2,200 in Mexican drug trafficking probe
https://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world...00-545882.html

UNITED STATES BORDER DRUG INTERCEPTS
(Source DHS/CBP)
FYEAR---MARIJUANA (lbs)---COCAINE(lbs)---HEROIN(oz)---METH(lbs)
1999-------1,170,941------------29,672-------------771-------------xxx
2000-------1,316,849------------23,203-----------1,209-------------18
2001-------1,166,764------------18,535-----------1,491------------144
2002-------1,234,329------------14,334-----------2,516------------229
2003-------1,350,809------------14,892-----------3,852------------356
2004-------1,347,356------------14,819-----------2,316------------977
2005-------1,208,663------------11,903-----------3,206------------728
2006-------1,369,602------------12,885-----------2,758------------594
2007-------1,859,299------------14,242-----------1,866------------342
2008-------1,642,420-------------9,272--------------735----------- 483
2009-------2,591,215------------10,907-----------3,056------------951
2010*------1,358,654-------------5,624-----------2,089------------557

*FY2010 stats as of 4/1/10 (6 months)

Drug Movement Into and Within the United States
https://bit.ly/cuck5W

Drug Transportation Corridors in the United States
https://bit.ly/ap3WKp

[ibuster57]

I agree we should send covert operatives to Mexico to kill growers and dealers. We should spend millions to bribe Mexican officials to play both sides of the fences just like we did in central and south America.
The DEA should buy tons of drugs from Mexican gangs just like we did in Latin America. I'm all for trading arms for drugs. Just so one gang can kill another.
Peer pressure in the US has hurt the cocaine, meth and heroin business more than anything else. People are just tired of seeing their friends and family's lives wasted.
We are all accountable for this mess that we are in because we have not made our government accountable for their deeds.
The war on drugs has killed more people than all the wars since the 18th century.
And we support the people that support the war with our votes or sitting in denial and not voting.

[Lazyman]

Agreed, I dunno who is buying Mexican weed, but it isn't anyone I know of. Support your local homegrower!

[IWanaGetHiSoHi]

Why kill the Mexican Growers? They are people trying not to starve. Maybe we should shoot the fools who pay/charge 600 an ounce too?

[superbolan]

WE are the problem? No. The only reason there is this demand is because we cant grow it ourselves or acquire it legally. WE are not HIDING behind our rights we stand proudly with them just Like Jefferson would have done. When drugs are legalized the mexican gangs will still be killing etc. Drugs have nothing to do with that. When you have a poor country filled with corrupt politicians, police and military. what do you expect? Do you think people wont do the same as their government? If there was no profit in drugs they would still be kidnapping for ransom etc. Just don't blame this shit on us we are victims as well

[Honkytonk]

Why so negative? We are not the problem, our demand is part of the solution!

„The tool is Cocain. The trick is to understand that the drug user had the freedom to make a choice. They chose the drug. I chose to use their habit to finance the democracy that all americans enjoy...
My Actions may be recorded as criminal condemning countless americans to drug dependency. I don't care.“ - W.J.Casey Ex-Director C.I.A.

[Batboy]

I just wanted to chime in to celebrate myself! This month marks the 1 year anniversary since the last time I bought weed from anyone. While I'm pretty sure that I haven't seen Mexican weed since the late 90s, I'm happy that the only stuff I use now comes from my own efforts.

Growing your own is THE best way to fight the war on drugs...

Call me freedom fighter